Seven killed in Thailand's Muslim-majority area

Violence has intensified Thailand's south, despite moves by the post-coup government to forge peace in the region.

Suspected separatist militants have killed seven people in Thailand's Muslim-majority south, while three soldiers were wounded in a roadside bomb attack, police said on Wednesday.

Two men were shot and killed in a drive-by shooting in Yala, one of three provinces bordering Malaysia beset by separatist violence and other unrest which has killed more than 1,600 people since January 2004.

Also in Yala, three soldiers assigned to protect local schoolteachers were injured -- one critically -- when a bomb exploded by the roadside.

In Narathiwat province, a 48-year-old Muslim was shot dead at his grocery shop by two militants who posed as clients, police said.

Two Muslims including a 13-year-old boy were shot several times in Narathiwat on Tuesday and died at the scene.

Police also confirmed that two people were killed in a bomb that exploded last morning outside a car showroom in Yala.

Violence has intensified in the three southern provinces of Yala, Pattani and Narathiwat in the past month, despite moves by Thailand's post-coup government to forge peace in the region.